By Chad Taylor, the Taylor-Made Team

Last weekend, Leah and I moved our oldest son, Ben, into his freshman dorm at KU.

Like thousands of other parents this month, we hauled boxes, made Target runs and tried to figure out how one 18-year-old could possibly need that much stuff to live in a very small room.

And then there is the bill.

As a dad, I understand what we’re paying for. He’s living on campus, meeting people, experiencing college life and learning how to be on his own. There is real value in that, particularly during freshman year.

As a Realtor, though, looking at the amount we’re spending on that dorm room hurts a little.

Because I can’t help thinking: What if some of those dollars were attacking principal on a mortgage instead?

For the 2026–27 school year, KU residence hall rates range from roughly $7,200 to more than $12,500 for the academic year depending on the room and building — and that doesn’t include the dining plan.

Multiply housing costs over four years and suddenly we’re talking about a meaningful amount of money.

So I’ve started thinking about a different possibility for the next few years: buying an investment property in Lawrence and having Ben live there.

This isn’t a new idea. Plenty of parents have purchased homes or condos in college towns for their kids. But with today’s housing costs, I think it’s worth revisiting the math.
The important distinction is that I wouldn’t look at this as a four-year investment that we sell the day Ben graduates.

Real estate generally works better when you give it time.

There are costs to buying. There are costs to selling. Things break. Furnaces don’t particularly care that you just paid tuition. And there is absolutely no guarantee that a home will appreciate over a four-year period.

For me, this would need to make sense as a long-term rental property whether Ben was living there or not.

That’s where another interesting statistic comes into play.

A Harvard Kennedy School study examining about 1.6 million pairs of siblings found that 21.2% of younger siblings eventually attended the same college as their older sibling.

We happen to have another son three years behind Ben who has already mentioned KU as a possibility.

I’m certainly not buying a house based on where a 15-year-old says he might attend college. Anyone who has raised a teenager understands the danger in that business plan.

But families with multiple children should at least consider the possibility.

If one child lives in the home for three years and another eventually uses it, suddenly the timeline could become five, six or seven years. And if neither sibling needs it anymore, ideally you’ve purchased a property that continues to work as a rental.

There is another part of this idea that interests me almost as much as the financial side.

I want Ben to learn how to take care of a home.

Owning a home someday isn’t just about qualifying for a mortgage.

It’s knowing that furnace filters actually have to be changed. Water shouldn’t mysteriously appear where water wasn’t yesterday. Gutters need cleaning. Lawns grow. Toilets run. Smoke detector batteries somehow begin chirping exclusively at 2 a.m.

Those aren’t particularly exciting life skills, but they’re valuable ones.

If we owned the house, I wouldn’t want Dad serving as the property manager for everything.

I’d want Ben involved.

He could learn how to handle basic maintenance, communicate with roommates, recognize when something needs attention and understand what it actually costs to operate a home.

In other words, perhaps the investment isn’t only the property.

Maybe part of the return is raising a future homeowner who understands what homeownership requires.

None of this means buying a college property automatically beats paying for a dorm or renting an apartment.

The numbers still have to work.

You’d want to consider the purchase price, interest rate, taxes, insurance, maintenance, potential roommate income, vacancy and the long-term rental market. A three- or four-bedroom home where roommates help offset the carrying costs is a very different investment than buying your child a one-bedroom condo.

And you shouldn’t assume appreciation will rescue a bad investment.

But I do think parents approaching the college years should ask the question.

We’re going to spend the housing money somewhere.

One option buys a bed for the school year.

The other might buy a bed, teach a kid how to take care of a home, allow roommates to help pay down the mortgage and leave the family owning an asset long after graduation.

I haven’t decided yet which direction we’ll go.

But after seeing that dorm bill, I can promise you one thing: I’m doing the math.

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